In 1993, Lisa is sent to a small Italian village by her father, a renowned art restorer, to restore a damaged painting in the collection of Emma, a wealthy aristocrat. On her way to Emma's home, Lisa meets American biologists Madison and Tracy, and their guide Toni. The group parts ways in the town of Sambuci, and Lisa befriends a local publican, Marcus, before starting her work. Later that night, Madison, Tracy, and Toni are attacked and abducted from their campsite by an unseen person.
Lisa's job is to restore a 15th century painting that has been damaged in a fire, the canvas completely obscured by soot. She explains that a job of that size would normally take at least a month, but Emma insists that it must be completed within two weeks, as per the contract agreed with Lisa's father. Lisa begins work on the painting, revealing demonic figures and a ghostly, hairless entity that later appears in Lisa's dreams. The more of the painting that is revealed, the more sinister Lisa's dreams become. Emma's teenage daughter, Giulia, gives Lisa cryptic warnings about the painting, revealing that, once the entire artwork is revealed, the events depicted within will be reflected in the world.
Madison, Tracy and Toni awake to find themselves locked in cages that surround a well. Another man, Rocco, has also been imprisoned. A silent, hulking jailer places a bucket in the well, which is filled with blood when he pulls it back up. The jailer brutally murders first Toni, and later Madison, throwing them both down the well where they are devoured by a deformed creature that lives at the bottom.
